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| Amelia Kicks-Off Olweus Bullying Prevention Program 01/29/07 | Report Bullying Here | ||
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The Olweus Bullying prevention program is a whole-school program designed
to reduce bullying behavior. Components of the program include a school
wide assessment, developing policy and school rules against bullying developing methods for reporting and recording bullying identifying "hot-spots" where bullying occurs, facilitating classroom meetings and individualized teacher interventions. Amelia has done a tremendous amount of work in preparation for their kickoff to the program. in august they had an all-teacher training program At that time, Amelia Middle and high each developed a coordinating committee of teachers, administrators, counselors, the school resource officer and parents to oversee the |
implementation of
the program. This committee recently completed a two-day workshop on the
Olweus program which was led by Butch Losey and Susan Smith, child focus
staff who are also nationally certified trainers in the Olweus program. In
September and December, the committees surveyed the students to asses
their impressions of bullying using the Olweus bully/victim questionnaire
(the results of which will be reported in the next newsletter). In
January, Amelia high school and middle school will kick-off the program to
the school and broader community. Most noticeable to students in January will be the start of weekly classroom meetings focused on bullying issues and teacher initiated "on-The-spot" interventions. |
To see detailed information on these topics, go to the
child focus, Inc. website at
www.childfocus.org and
click on the training center. If you are a parent or community leader and
are interested in supporting Amelia's efforts either through attending the
kick-off or donating needed products such as t-shirts, art supplies or
reward items, please contact Deb Heinlein or robin Becker. Remember, the
more parents and community members become involved, the greater
opportunity for success. what an excellent start for the new Year. |
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| Parents are Essential To Reducing Bullying at School | |||
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To reduce bullying at Amelia, parents must be involved in the process,
either through showing support or by taking an active role in changing the
school climate. understanding that is often hard to figure out how you can
become more actively involved, here are a few interesting ways:
Volunteer to supervise or
participate in lunchtime, recess or after-school activities. |
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| The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program has Demonstrated Effectiveness | |||
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The program is research based as
Amelia high school and middle school implement the bullying prevention
program it is important to note that there is considerable research that
demonstrates the effectiveness of the Olweus bullying prevention program.
The following outcomes have been noted: Students report a 30% to 70% reduction in student reports of being bullied and bullying others. Significant reductions in student reports of general criminal behavior (e.g., vandalism, fighting, theft, and truancy) |
Significant improvements in
classroom order and discipline More positive attitude toward schoolwork and school. Classroom Meetings are a Significant Component Schools that implement Olweus Bullying Prevention Program and are effective at reducing bullying behavior are those schools who faithfully run classroom meetings. We call this a dosage response relationship because those classrooms that implemented essential components |
of the program saw greater reductions in Bully/Victim problems, specifically classroom meetings. |
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| What's Shame Got to Do With it ? | |||
| As parents, we always do our best not to "shame" our children when we correct their behavior. Interestingly, shame does play a role in changing behavior because consistent, appropriate behavior occurs when children manage shame correctly. Behavior change comes when children acknowledge poor behavior instead of displace it. Shame acknowledgement is admitting that what one did is wrong and shameful, and feeling and showing remorse. Shame displacement is blaming others for the wrong that was done and expressing anger towards them. Thinking about how this might relate to bullying behavior, it is likely that bullies displace their shame, | allowing them to be aggressive towards others. To explore this further, what might shame play in a bullying prevention program. Ahmed (2005) suggest that schools incorporate shame management strategies into their program. According to this approach, individuals that acknowledge shame and accept responsibility will refrain from further bullying. This approach also supports the idea that adaptive shame management skills promote bystander intervention. Children who are inclined to feel shame and accept responsibility for wrong doing are more likely to assist victims by intervening in a bullying event. |
By contrast, children who are
inclined to blame others for what went wrong are less likely to become
involved in combating bullying. Bullying prevention programs interested in
incorporating shame management in their school should help teachers an
students to develop the capacity to feel shame/guilt for wrong doing;
accept personal responsibility for wrong doing; and make amends for wrong
doing. Conversely, students should be taught not to blame others for what
went wrong; direct retaliatory anger towards others; or displace anger
onto something that is not related to the wrongdoing. |
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| Coordinating Committee Members | |||
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High School Keith Hickman Debbie Kobman Deb Heinlein Karen Barnes Michelle Buten Mike Burns Milt Staderman Ron Poince Sarah Bose Shane Heikenfeld |
Middle School Dave Mack Gary Hardewig Karen Barnes Milt Staderman Robin Becker Cindy Hock-James Sara Bose Joan Kasten Shelly Hilderbrand |
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This newsletter is
provided to the West Clermont School District by: |
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Moving Ahead In January |
Want to volunteer? |
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Help is needed
from parents to make our program successful. Contact numbers: Michelle Buten- 947-7401 Robin Becker- 947-7500 |
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